The Daily Show: Indecision 2004

 

Picture: B-     Sound: C+     Extras: A-     Program: A+

 

 

While I may not watch every show on TV, I can still say with confidence that there is not a better show on TV than The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.  A bold statement like such needs some serious support, which this review shall hopefully serve to do. The first question to put aside is what makes a show successful and that can be broken down into its entertainment value and ability to attract viewers with its substance, which this particular show has an abundance of, unlike the rest of cable-land these days.

 

The Daily Show has also been one of the longest running shows on The Comedy Central network, beginning with Craig Kilborn it’s first few years and then taken over by Jon Stewart for its past few.  There is no doubt that the show is ten-times better than it ever was in the beginning.  The show is sharper, wittier, bigger, and better.  The show brings an awareness to issues in the news and provides a commentary for that.  What this show banks on is that the real news does such a poor job that they are able to make it into a comedy sketch to the point that even while they are delivering some fact in the current events, that they are able to take a less serious look at it and say, ‘what is wrong with this picture?” 

 

There is no doubt that the show has been on for so long at this point because the fact that it attacks the real hardcore questions that are gripping our nation.  While it might be done in a comedy sketch form there is almost a fine line between where the humor begins and where the real gripping truth lies.  You might find yourself laughing at some of the stories, but deep down there is something almost frightful about how unaware we are of a nation at what the government does.  There is a huge setback in today’s media that enables networks to determine what we should and should not know.  We are basically blind sheep headed to the slaughter and the only thing than can stop it is a revolt, but we are just moving along and trusting in our faithful shepherd Uncle Sam to keep us safe, but how many times has that shepherd led us astray?  Too many times to count?  Perhaps.  This is probably the last place though to turn into a platform for political opinion, but it does relate precisely to the shows ethos. 

 

With this being the first release of anything from The Daily Show I was thrilled to death to finally get something.  The choice being the Indecision 2004 series that ran towards the end of the Summer of 2004 with four episodes devoted to the Democratic National Convention, which was held in Boston and the Republican National Convention held in the shows hometown of New York.  The box set contains all eight shows with four being on each disc and the third disc in the set containing the extras, which are just as hilarious as the show itself and done in true Daily Show fashion.  Even the box has some little nuggets of laughs on it as well, which I will leave to you the reader to find yourself. 

 

There is a reason why a show like this is successful and it rests on a few basics.  The first is that politics is like a foreign language to most people and not only that, but most of it seems like confusion rhetoric even to the point that politicians are often left confused.  We live in a system where the machines of government are so large and intricate that it’s nearly impossible to summarize or have any clue how it all works together.  So a show like this picks apart the gibberish and makes humor out of the broken pieces.  Some may feel that the show is anti-Bush, but if you actually watch the show you will see that it’s aim is not at a particular person, group, government body, or anything remotely close, rather the show focuses on just plain old mistakes made by any entity. 

 

Of course the show is going to be selective about what it attacks or defends, but when it comes down to it, there are mistakes made on all sides of every equation.  Most of the time the show is just going after the latest breaking story or something trivial within the news, or attacking the lack of news coverage that exists on important events.  It is sad sometimes when you are only informed on important matters by a parody news show rather than getting it straight from the reliable or so-called reliable media sources. 

 

Without going on too much of a rampage about why this show is just awesome and is a must-see for anyone, it would be a good thing to mention the key selling factors to this box set.  First off we have the show presented uncut, which is really the best way to see it in full glory since Comedy Central must cut out certain choice words.  However, that is not the case here.  Also the show is in it’s full-frame aspect ratio keeping with it’s intended broadcast format and looks a shade better than it does when it’s being aired.  Mostly because the signal is a cleaner one than most people get even with some of the DirectTV or DishNetwork ways of bringing high quality to the household.  The reality of the matter is that for something like this the quality is forgivable since we are not expected anything of High Definition caliber just yet.  The same goes for the Dolby Stereo 2.0 audio option. 

 

There is even a commentary track, which is provided by Samantha Bee, Ed Helms, and Rob Corddry, which is just awesome and is just as engulfing as the show can be.  There is a featurette that is broken into two segments featuring Stephen Colbert entitled Requiem for a Show that Was Daily and a few other little tasty extras making for one sweet jam packed little box of excitement.  All that can really be said after all this though is, ‘When do we get more’?  What is the next step for releasing other material?  Obviously it would be difficult to put together complete seasons since the show is on 4 times a week and therefore would make a huge box set and then the fact that it has been on for so many seasons, but I wouldn’t mind that one bit.  Or put together some highlights from various seasons and turn them into ‘best of’s’.  That seems like a likely starting point, but whatever the case this is a show determined to go the distance and there is no reason to not want to grab this set and make it part of your collection today.

 

 

-   Nate Goss